Good Samaritan law aimed at cutting overdoses

Published: Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 11:31 p.m.

Last Modified: Saturday, April 20, 2013 at 11:31 p.m.

In 2000, as Kay Sanford settled into her first year as North Carolina's injury prevention chief, she launched a review of several years worth of state death certificates in hopes of assessing the common causes of fatal injury. What she found alarmed her: Nearly every category had stabilized or decreased except poisonings, which showed a marked rise.

“I thought of poisonings then as little kids sneaking under the sink and drinking the Drano,” she said. “But we have one of the best poison control centers, so this didn't seem reasonable.”

Taken aback, Sanford enlisted the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which dispatched a team of special investigators to assist her in rooting out the source of the problem. After poring over the data, they pinpointed the culprit: prescription drugs.

Prompted in large part by Sanford's analysis, the state has moved to attack what many view as an epidemic. Legislators established a system for tracking highly addictive prescription drugs. Law enforcement cracked down. Doctors and pharmacists learned how to spot warning signs. State and local groups began staging regular take-back events similar to what some hold for firearms, only now the target is the contents of people's medicine cabinets.

The latest development came last week as Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law a bipartisan measure that grants immunity from minor criminal charges to Good Samaritans who call in medical help for drug or alcohol overdose victims. The law also encourages widening the availability of naloxone, a medication known to literally reverse narcotic-induced overdoses, by shielding doctors who prescribe it and bystanders who administer it from criminal or civil liability.

“Drug overdose is a rising cause of death in the American population, and if we don't do something to stop it, we're going to see it get worse,” said Robert Childs, executive director of the N.C. Harm Reduction Coaliton, which lobbied in favor of the law. “And this legislation provides an opportunity to reduce the incidence rate of drug overdose in North Carolina.”

State Sen. Stan Bingham, one of two Republican lawmakers who shepherded the bill through the General Assembly, said “this will and has saved many lives in states that have passed this bill.”

B.J. Sanders said the Good Samaritan measure passed last week may prevent the kind of tragedy that beset her daughter Shelly.

In November 2005, Shelly became unresponsive while using heroin in her dorm room with a friend. Her friend, recently paroled from jail, feared calling for help would result in his arrest. So he left, and Shelly died. She was 19.

“If he didn't fear calling 911, I really believe she would be here today,” Sanders said.

Despite efforts to stem the havoc wrought, the number of unintentional poisoning deaths rose from 279 in 1999 to 1,140 last year, with more than half caused by prescription opiates such as Oxycontin and Vicodin, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The growth follows an increase in the availability of pain-relieving narcotics, precipitated by a general acknowledgement among the medical care community that chronic pain is a serious issue that for a long time went grossly under treated. But abuse runs so rampant that experts estimate poisonings will eclipse traffic crashes as the leading cause of injury-related death in North Carolina by 2017.

Community Care of North Carolina, a Raleigh-based public-private partnership, recently announced a $2.6 million investment to expand statewide a pilot program credited with pushing overdose deaths down 69 percent in Wilkes County. The program, known as Project Lazarus, focuses in part on distributing easily administrable naloxone kits.

Naloxone, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, stops overdoses by knocking opiates off receptors in the brain and replacing them with an inactive compound, said Corey Davis, an attorney with the Network for Public Health Law, a national organization that supports use of the medication. Because naloxone does not rouse the brain receptors, users cannot abuse it to get high like, say, methadone, another drug commonly used to treat opiate addiction.

More than half of all overdoses occur within the presence of another person, yet Sanford said some 60 percent die before first responders arrive.

Last week's measure tries to increase the survival rate, allowing doctors or professionals under their employ to distribute naloxone kits to the friends and family members of anyone at risk of overdosing. Naloxone can either be injected into the muscles or sprayed up the nose.

“It is important to get the antidote out into the community and teach people how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an overdose and how to reverse it,” Sanford said.

<p>In 2000, as Kay Sanford settled into her first year as North Carolina's injury prevention chief, she launched a review of several years worth of state death certificates in hopes of assessing the common causes of fatal injury. What she found alarmed her: Nearly every category had stabilized or decreased except poisonings, which showed a marked rise. </p><p>“I thought of poisonings then as little kids sneaking under the sink and drinking the Drano,” she said. “But we have one of the best poison control centers, so this didn't seem reasonable.” </p><p>Taken aback, Sanford enlisted the help of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which dispatched a team of special investigators to assist her in rooting out the source of the problem. After poring over the data, they pinpointed the culprit: prescription drugs.</p><p>Prompted in large part by Sanford's analysis, the state has moved to attack what many view as an epidemic. Legislators established a system for tracking highly addictive prescription drugs. Law enforcement cracked down. Doctors and pharmacists learned how to spot warning signs. State and local groups began staging regular take-back events similar to what some hold for firearms, only now the target is the contents of people's medicine cabinets. </p><p>The latest development came last week as Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law a bipartisan measure that grants immunity from minor criminal charges to Good Samaritans who call in medical help for drug or alcohol overdose victims. The law also encourages widening the availability of naloxone, a medication known to literally reverse narcotic-induced overdoses, by shielding doctors who prescribe it and bystanders who administer it from criminal or civil liability. </p><p>“Drug overdose is a rising cause of death in the American population, and if we don't do something to stop it, we're going to see it get worse,” said Robert Childs, executive director of the N.C. Harm Reduction Coaliton, which lobbied in favor of the law. “And this legislation provides an opportunity to reduce the incidence rate of drug overdose in North Carolina.”</p><p>State Sen. Stan Bingham, one of two Republican lawmakers who shepherded the bill through the General Assembly, said “this will and has saved many lives in states that have passed this bill.” </p><p>B.J. Sanders said the Good Samaritan measure passed last week may prevent the kind of tragedy that beset her daughter Shelly. </p><p>In November 2005, Shelly became unresponsive while using heroin in her dorm room with a friend. Her friend, recently paroled from jail, feared calling for help would result in his arrest. So he left, and Shelly died. She was 19. </p><p>“If he didn't fear calling 911, I really believe she would be here today,” Sanders said. </p><p>Despite efforts to stem the havoc wrought, the number of unintentional poisoning deaths rose from 279 in 1999 to 1,140 last year, with more than half caused by prescription opiates such as Oxycontin and Vicodin, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services. The growth follows an increase in the availability of pain-relieving narcotics, precipitated by a general acknowledgement among the medical care community that chronic pain is a serious issue that for a long time went grossly under treated. But abuse runs so rampant that experts estimate poisonings will eclipse traffic crashes as the leading cause of injury-related death in North Carolina by 2017. </p><p>Community Care of North Carolina, a Raleigh-based public-private partnership, recently announced a $2.6 million investment to expand statewide a pilot program credited with pushing overdose deaths down 69 percent in Wilkes County. The program, known as Project Lazarus, focuses in part on distributing easily administrable naloxone kits. </p><p>Naloxone, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, stops overdoses by knocking opiates off receptors in the brain and replacing them with an inactive compound, said Corey Davis, an attorney with the Network for Public Health Law, a national organization that supports use of the medication. Because naloxone does not rouse the brain receptors, users cannot abuse it to get high like, say, methadone, another drug commonly used to treat opiate addiction. </p><p>More than half of all overdoses occur within the presence of another person, yet Sanford said some 60 percent die before first responders arrive. </p><p>Last week's measure tries to increase the survival rate, allowing doctors or professionals under their employ to distribute naloxone kits to the friends and family members of anyone at risk of overdosing. Naloxone can either be injected into the muscles or sprayed up the nose. </p><p>“It is important to get the antidote out into the community and teach people how to recognize the signs and symptoms of an overdose and how to reverse it,” Sanford said. </p><p><i></p><p><a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/topic9904"><b>Brian Freskos</b></a>: 343-2327</p><p>On <a href="http://www.starnewsonline.com/section/news41"><b>Twitter</b></a>: @BrianFreskos</i></p>